Pia Hierzegger

Biography

Pia Hierzegger was born in Graz on February 2 1972. She studied German literature before eventually taking acting classes. She is an ensemble member of the off-theatre "Theater im Bahnhof", where she also works as a director and is part of the writer's group "Eigenbau". Following her award-winning play "vernetzt denken", she adapted Wolf Haas' novel "Das ewige Leben" for a 2009 stage production at the Schauspielhaus Graz. In 2010/11, she wrote the text for the premiere staging of "Die Kaufleute von Graz".

In addition to her work in the theatre, Pia Herzegger pursued her acting career. She had her first three screen roles in films by Michael Glawogger: She was one of the leads in the comedy "Nacktschnecken" ("Slugs", AT/DE 2004), played the internet date of August Diehl's character in "Slumming" (AT/CH 2006) and then reprised her role from "Nacktschnecken" for the sequel "Contact High" (2007).

For his screen adaptation of the Wolf Haas' novel "Der Knochenmann" ("The Bone Man", AT 2009), director Wolfgang Murnberger cast her in the pivotal role of a male artist who is ultimately revealed to be a woman. This film also marked her first on-screen collaboration with Josef Hader. They next appeared together as hospital doctors in the dark made-for-TV comedy "Die Aufschneider". In 2012, Hierzegger and Michael Ostrowski co-hosted two episodes of the late-night talk show "Demokratie – Die Show", which was then discontinued. Following supporting roles in "Die Vaterlosen" ("The Fatherless", AT 2011), "High Performance – Mandarinen lügen nicht" (AT 2014) and "Gruber geht" (AT 2015), she played one of the leads in Marie Kreutzer's comedy "Was hat uns bloß so ruiniert" (AT 2016).

The summer of 2016 saw the premiere of "Hotel Rock'n'Roll" (AT), which concluded a trilogy which began with "Nacktschnecken" and continued with  "Contact High". Hierzegger reprised her role as chaotic student Mao from the previous films while Michael Ostrowski replaced Michael Glawogger, who had passed away in 2014, as director.

In the tragicomedy "Wilde Maus" ("Wild Mouse", AT/DE 2017), which premiered in the competition of the 2017 Berlin IFF, Hierzegger starred opposite Josef Hader (who is also her life partner) as the clueless wife of an unemployed clerk who comes up with a highly unorthodox business idea.

In the following years she could be seen in the culture clash comedy "Womit haben wir das verdient?" ("What Have We Done to Deserve This?", AT 2018) as the main character's best friend, in the sister story "Der Boden unter den Füßen" ("The Ground Beneath My Feet", AT 2019) as a woman suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, and in the dark television comedy "Risiken und Nebenwirkungen" (AT 2021) as the unenthusiastic wife of a potential organ donor. As a screenwriter, Hierzegger wrote the Austrian television productions "Stadtkomödie - Die Notlüge" (2017) and "Landkrimi - Waidmannsdank" (2020), in which she also played a leading role.

She received much critical acclaim for her portrayal of a sinister nutritionist in the horror film "Family Dinner" (AT 2022). In late 2023, a sequel to "Womit haben wir das verdient?" titled "Wie kommen wir da wieder raus?" was released in Austrian cinemas. At the Berlinale in 2024, she starred in the drama "Ivo" (2024) as a terminally ill woman who wants to end her life on her own terms.